屛谷 權榘의 均賦論 고찰

Abstract

This paper examines the theory of equitable taxation shown in 『Jeongsi- gwangyu(政始管窺)』 by ‘Byung-gok(屛谷)’ Kwon Gu(權榘, 1672~1749), a native of Andong. Kwon Gu emphasized the theory of equitable taxation, or ‘Gyunbu theory(均賦論)’ as the most urgent task for the stability of people's livelihoods. ‘Gyunbu(均賦)’ refers to imposing land taxes fairly.
 According to Kwon Gu, the foundation of Gyunbu lies in “personally inspecting the land(田地) and accurately revealing its true state[檢踏實事].” He also placed special emphasis on preventing the harmful influence of corrupt ‘Ajeon’ officers. As countermeasures, he proposed that, firstly, they should require the relevant departments and specialized personnel to handle related tasks while personally visiting the land to understand its true state. Secondly, when measuring the size of the land and rating it, Ajeons should be excluded from that task, and knowledgeable individuals competent at the job should be appointed. Thirdly, if any changes are made, the local government head or town magistrate should personally make a visit and confirm the situation. Fourthly, land registers should be recorded for each category of land and be used as a basis for inspecting the actual land and should be updated to reflect any changes.
 Kwon Gu strongly advocated for government officials to economize the national finances and reduce taxes to lessen the burden on the people and stabilize their lives. In particular, he heavily emphasized the reality that with the people’s lives being in terrible circumstances, a year of famine could cause Joseon to fall beyond repair. Therefore, he argued they should take reference from the concept of Zhu Xi’s ‘Su-bun-gam-bang(隨分減放)’: reducing taxes depending on how much damage natural disasters or famine cause, as well as the system of ‘Jeon-bu-gu-deung(田賦九等)’: collecting taxes depending on the quality of the farmland with said quality ranked into 9 tiers, found in the 『Wu-gong(禹貢)』section of 『Seo-gyeong(書經). He proposed dividing the good years from the bad years, as well as sorting out the severity of disasters into 9 different levels and reducing taxes based on them.